Water Supply

Watercare supplies more than 370,000 cubic metres of water daily to Auckland from 10 dams, one river and one underground source. The proportion of water coming from each source varies daily according to the overall status of the network. In general though 57% comes from the five Hunua dams, 26% from the five Waitakere dams, 14% from the Waikato River, and 3% from the Onehunga underground source.

After being treated at one of the six treatment plants, water is fed to reservoirs around the region and on to Watercare's customers.

Just over 60% of all the water supplied goes to households for drinking, cooking and cleaning. A quarter is used by industry, and for commercial purposes in schools, offices and hospitals. Around 3% is supplied to agriculture and for irrigation, and the balance is used for reticulation maintenance and for emergencies such as fire fighting.